Joy
Malone learns this the night she sees a stranger with all-black eyes
across a crowded room—right before the mystery boy tries to cut out her
eye. Instead, the wound accidentally marks her as property of Indelible
Ink, and this dangerous mistake thrusts Joy into an incomprehensible
world—a world of monsters at the window, glowing girls on the doorstep,
and a life that will never be the same.

Now, Joy must pretend to
be Ink’s chosen one—his helper, his love, his something for the
foreseeable future...and failure to be convincing means a painful death
for them both. Swept into a world of monsters, illusion, immortal honor
and revenge, Joy discovers that sometimes, there are no mistakes.

Dawn Metcalf's fascinating tale of The Twixt brings together the dark and dangerous world of the Fae with a modern and edgy urban setting. In the traditions of the original fairy tales, the author has created a unique world of the Fae, and included all it's wonderful and hideous creatures for us to enjoy. Riveting and dark, The Twixt is not a realm of sweet fairies sprinkling sparkly dust. It's harsh and lush, faerie meets urban, and Joy Malone is about enter the strange and fascinating of The Twixt, a world where human rules do not apply.

SETTING & SUMMARY Not only has Joy just got stabbed in the eye by the most darkly handsome boy she has ever seen, but now she is being visited by all manner of awful creatures who keep threatening her with messages for Ink, Indelible Ink. With a strange twist of fate, Joy "sees" Ink and is accidentally "marked" by him for having the sight, linking her to him, now bearing his signatura-forever. Now the creatures of the Twixt, the Fae are coming to her seeking favors, sending request, hoping to find favor through her as Ink's lehman.

CHARACTERS Joy was great heroine whom realistically portrayed what a typical teens reactions would be when facing creatures straight out of a fairy tale nightmare. Her bravery and curiosity, along with a good dose of fear made her easy to connect and likeable.

Ink is a walking contradiction. Powerful. Naive. He moves with otherworldly grace, dark and sinuous, his face boyish and harsh. I found his character fascinating, dangerous and compelling. As part of the Fae, Ink does not experience "human" feelings, that is until he meets and marks Joy. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the story, watching Ink learn to experience the nature of human emotions through Joy.

SWOON LEVEL: Crush

THE ROMANCE between Joy and Ink was wonderful. Ink begins to have feelings for Joy, and not being human, has no idea what to do with them. It was adorable how he tries to connect with her, and his uncertainty and attraction just made it all seem real. Possible. It was sweet seeing the them explore their feelings for each other. Through Joy we get to experience everything from initial fear and hate to attraction and longing.

THE SWOON QUOTE:"I can feel you," he whispered.She nodded. "I know."He tapped his chest. "Here."Joy nodded again and said, "I know." Her lips were close. She could taste whispers of him and rain."We are here," she whispered, feeling the kiss before it happened. "We are both very, very here."

WHAT I REALLY ENJOYED about Indelible was the amazing and creative creatures that Dawn Metcalf populated in The Twixt. They're creepy and compelling at the same time.

WHAT I WANTED MORE OF was some greater world-building. There's a fantastic set up and great creatures, but not much explanation. When we enter the world of the Twixt it's amazing, but little information is provided.

RECOMMENDED to readers who enjoy reading dark, urban faerie stories and romance. The setting and characters in Indelible were dark and intriguing, and the story sets up for great for future possibilities and additional world-building.